Glenarvon, Lamb, Lady Caroline

In 1812, Lady Caroline Lamb, wife of a prominent politician and future Prime Minister, began a tempestuous affair with Lord Byron, a liaison that shocked Lambs contemporaries. Finally, when he became tired of Lamb, Byron cruelly broke off the relationship, and in Glenarvon (1816) Lamb sought revenge.

Set against the backdrop of the violent Irish Revolution of 1798, Glenarvon tells the story of the doomed love of the married Lady Calantha for the dashing revolutionary Lord Glenarvon. Though published anonymously, contemporary readers immediately recognised in Calantha and Glenarvon the counterparts of Lamb and Byron and in many of the minor characters satiric portraits of some of the leading lights of London high society. The novel became an instant success, going through numerous editions and resulting in Lambs being blackballed from fashionable society.